Ravenwood Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 So, saw this list in the Times today: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_reviews/article6914181.ece embarrassed that I have only read a handful! But what do you think should have been in there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I've read 5 and a further 15 are on Mount TBR or my wishlist. Seemed like a strange enough list, but I never really notice when a book has been written, so I couldn't say what I'd put where exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I've only read five too: 56 If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor 30 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 25 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon 17 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling 9 Atonement by Ian McEwan I also have a couple on my 'to read' or 'wishlist' too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephanie2008 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 90. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer. 25. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon. 17. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling. 10. The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown. Just four for me. But like other people, there are quite a few on TBR list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Not another list!? Who makes these decisions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucybird Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I've read: 90 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (2005) 30 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 25 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon 22 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman 17. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (2003) 10 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 7 Life of Pi by Yann Martel On my TBR list: 41 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry And a few others on my wishlist. I wouldn't put Twilight on there, and I certainly wouldn't put The Da Vinci Code on that high, if on there at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I've read and enjoyed Persepolis, abandoned Twilight and The Deathly Hallows, have Bob Dylan's Chronicles One on my TBR and Pullman is on my wishlist - and that's is. Seriously, who chose these? The Times disappoints; you'd think The Mail had compiled this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexiepiper Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I've read: 90 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer 53 Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver 25 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon 17 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling 10 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown I've got on my TBR pile: 48 A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson 41 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry 18 Bad Science by Ben Goldacre 9 Atonement by Ian McEwan I have on my wishlist: 30 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 22 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman 15 The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins 14 Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi 3 Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 That truly is a bizarre list of books. Twilight? The Da Vinci Code? Admittedly I've read both, but in the 100 best books of the decade? Please Anyway, I've read: 98 Half of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - meh 90 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - guilty pleasure 54 Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss - fabulous for the pendant in me 53 Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver - wonderful use of language 35 The Arrival by Shaun Tan - the best illustrator working today 30 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - excellent except the ending 29 The Accidental by Ali Smith - my favourite author of the decade 22 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman - meh 17 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling - it all went downhill after HP3 10 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown - simply awful 5 Suite Fran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blithe Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Wow. I've only read one: 54 Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelofboox Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I've read 11. I was really very surprised to see The Road at number 1 - not that I didn't think it was a very good book, because it was great in that bleak post-apocalyptic way - I think I just imagined few people would relate to it as such an immense book... I'm not making much sense here. In any case, a curious list - just another one to add to the pile though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funrun Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I read 3 books:mrgreen: 1.The kite Runner 2.Life of Pi 3.The Road did not think it would be No 1:) so 97 to go;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busy91 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I didn't do as bad as I thought I would. 44 Freakonomics: by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner 30 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 25 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon 17 Harry Potter andthe Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling 10 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 7 Life of Pi by Yann Martel And quite a few on my TBR list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gracea88 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 I've only read a few: Middlesex The Kite Runner The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time Never Let Me Go Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows War and Peace The Da Vinci Code Atonement Life of Pi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDR124 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Harry Potter, Twilight and The DaVinci Code? Is it a list of good books or good selling books? I add I have read them and enjoyed the time, but are they the best we have had? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 What an odd mix. I guess in trying to find 100 books they have to mix up the serious novels with the popular with translations with non-fiction and poetry. Surprised to find I've read as many as I have. Got to say it's actually a fairly good list, although also obviously wrong in places (The Road is clearly not as good as Cloud Atlas, and Atonement and Oscar Wao are surely in the list of worst books of the decade...) 1- The Road 6 - The Tipping Point 7 - The Life of Pi 9 - Atonement 10 - The Da Vinci Code 11 - War and Peace (well, I read it in 2007, not sure if it's the new translation) 12 - A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius 15 - The God Delusion 18 - Bad Science 21 - The Plot Against America 25 - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night 30 - The Kite Runner 45 - London: The Biography (well, I've read just over half of it, which has taken most of the decade) 59 - Moondust 60 - Collapse 66 - Cloud Atlas 69 - My Name is Red 80 - The White Tiger 97 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysterioso Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 An eclectic and strange list! Like you I was slightly perturbed by some of the utter drivel that made this list e.g. 'Twilight', 'Da Vinci Code', 'Harry Potter', 'Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night Time' etc but glad to see that they did mix it up a bit with fiction, non-fiction, poetry etc and even more glad that for the first time I have read at least half of them- woohoo! Also there's a few that I've never heard of but am curious about so another visit to the bookstore beckons...hurrah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 I wouldn't call "Harry Potter" utter drivel (the first four I found brilliant and even in the last three there was a lot to salvage, IMHO just hidden by a dire need for trimming and editing); I would like to know what the writer was on when describing Edward Cullen as "basically, a fanged Mr. Darcy" though... . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Is it odd that the author of this article didn't give a few words on how these books were chosen as the best of the decade? I mean, was it based purely on literary talent or money-making ability or ? I can see why some would be questioning the choices on the list, but I'm wondering why the Times even bothered to put this together since reading is so subjective. I've only read a handful on the list, but if these choices were based purely on writing ability, I'm not sure a lot of them should be there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 I think I would also like to know how these books were chosen. Was it a readers poll or the opinion of 'experts'? Was it a refection of sales? A dictionary is in that list so it can't surely be based on literary content? Hmmmmmmmmm........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 It does seem like a completely random list, I agree. I was annoyed to see Ned Kelly, from Peter Carey's The True History of the Kelly Gang, described as a 'mythological Australian gangster'. What the? Ned Kelly was a very real person, and a bushranger, not a gangster (they mean very different things to me). There may be some artistic licence in the book, but the facts are there. And as someone pointed out in their comments, they have listed The Da Vinci Code in both their best and worst lists. I've read about half a dozen of them and have another half a dozen on my TBR pile, for what it's worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 So, the funny thing about this list is that there are so many "highbrow" literary books on the list that I actually think are utter rubbish, and certainly massively overrated. My Name Is Red, Atonement and A Heartbreaking Work... are all terrible, and I genuinely hated them. Something like the Da Vinci Code, on the other hand, although it's genuinely one of the worst written pieces of rubbish I've ever had the misfortune to wade through, is actually entirely succesful on its own terms. A very enjoyable, kind of gripping, romp. Complete nonsense and of no literary merit. But it never pretends to be anything else and is an entertaining way of spending a long-haul plane flight or an afternoon on the beach provided you switch off all your critical faculties. I would think that the inclusion of Twilight and Harry Potter fall into the same category. Incidentally, of the non-fiction books on that list that I've read, they are all genuinely good. I think the selection of non-fiction is, perhaps, easier. I don't know why perhaps it's because when non-fiction is succesful on its own terms, all it's doing is getting a story, a message, some idea across. Literature, on the other hand, has so many different ways it can be a success, from dreary period nonsense like Atonement, where success is, apparently, in the writing style; to Dan Brown, where success is just in keeping a driving plot; to something like Cloud Atlas where success is a mix of stylistic innovation and weaving whilst keeping the reader interested; to, say, Oscar Wao, where success is as much a telling of the history of the Dominican Republic under Trujillo as anything else. So it becomes much more a matter of personal taste and preference, and it's much easier to dislike stuff that is still widely respected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Five for me, with many more on TBR. However these lists are ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysterioso Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 I wouldn't call "Harry Potter" utter drivel (the first four I found brilliant and even in the last three there was a lot to salvage, IMHO just hidden by a dire need for trimming and editing); I would like to know what the writer was on when describing Edward Cullen as "basically, a fanged Mr. Darcy" though... . Sorry I forgot that 'grown-ups' read HP- I always view it as an averagely written kid's book so would question the inclusion of it on this list like 'Twilight' and 'The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night Time' which are also teenage books.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martymcfly3004 Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Read four of these: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown I liked the curious incident and the god delusion but if they are really in the top 100 books of the past decade than there is a lot to bed said for sticking to the classics. The Da Vinci code? Really? Lame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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